 | Oklahoma-bound Blake Griffin used an array of dunks to take home the McDonald's dunk contest title on Monday night. AP |
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By Ryan Canner-O'Mealy, Special to SI.com, RISE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Blake Griffin, the Oklahoma-bound power forward at Oklahoma Christian (Edmond, Okla.), came into the finals of Monday night's McDonald's All-American dunk contest with high hopes.
"I was trying to do something no one had really seen before," the 6-foot-8, 240-pounder said. "And that's the only thing I could think of."
That, in this case, refers to his first dunk of the finals, when Griffin lined up at the foul line with his back to the basket and bounced the ball between his legs and off the backboard. He ran in and threw down a powerful windmill, sending the crowd to its feet and his fellow All-Americans, including a camcorder-toting O.J. Mayo, onto the court.
"The timing just worked out perfectly on that," Griffin said. "I don't think I've ever done it that well before."
Griffin's dunk earned him a perfect score of 50 and helped him win the event with a final-round, two-dunk total of 91. He clinched the win with an alley-oop that he flushed home with one hand.
You can catch Griffin's dunks and the three-point shooting contest on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN before the start of the boys' game, which will be televised at 8.
In the finals, Griffin's competitors were small forward Michael Beasley of Notre Dame Prep (Fitchburg, Mass.) and shooting guard Austin Freeman of DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.).
Beasley also scored a 50 on his first between-the-legs dunk in the finals, but couldn't convert on his second attempt -- throwing the ball off the backboard, putting it between his legs and dunking -- and received a 0. Beasley should have received some style points, however, for channeling two Boston Celtics dunk champions -- Dee Brown and Gerald Green -- by pumping up his special edition, red-and-yellow Reebok Pumps before competing.
To Griffin, one of the best things was getting to show his stuff in front of Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA legend Bill Walton, who was one of five celebrity judges. The four other judges were former Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum, former Louisville standout Darrell Griffith, former Kentucky star and NBA dunk champion Kenny Walker and the WNBA's Shanna Zolman, who was co-MVP of the inaugural McDonald's All-American girls' game back in 2002.
"That was awesome," Griffin said. "I didn't even know [Walton] was going to be here until yesterday. To be able to do it in front of guys like that is a great feeling."
